It’s cauliflower but not as you know it – the humble vegetable is the hero ingredient in Hell’s newest plant-based offering, a unique ice cream made by Kiwi start-up EatKinda.
Exclusively launching nationwide across Hell’s 77 stores in Strawberry Swirl and Mint Choc Bikkie flavours, the ice cream is a world first of its type being made commercially. It includes the use of cauliflower that would otherwise go to waste purely for cosmetic reasons.
EatKinda is the brainchild of Jenni Matheson and Mrinali Kumar. The duo has gone from making ice cream on their kitchen bench to scaling up to commercial production to take their products nationwide with Hell. A passionate vegan of more than 20 years, Matheson first came up with her cauliflower ice cream recipe while looking to use up vegetables from her garden.
“After initially trying pumpkin, and other vegetables I had grown, it quickly became clear that cauliflower was the perfect base. It has a beautiful texture without an overpowering taste, meaning you can create flavours easily,” she says.
Matheson took her recipe to a start-up weekend in Taranaki in 2020, where she met Kumar, who was completing a Bachelor of Food Technology at Massey University. EatKinda was soon born, making a premium ice cream that is creamy, delicious and, most importantly, plant-based.
Kumar says they use “rescued” cauliflower for their ice cream whenever possible, a deliberate decision given a large amount of New Zealand’s crops don’t even make it to the shelves.
“Apart from cosmetic imperfections, such as being the wrong size, an odd colour, or not pretty enough for the supermarkets, the cauli we use is completely fine to eat. We source it from suppliers including Perfectly Imperfect, a social enterprise that saves cosmetically imperfect food from rotting in the ground. It’s a win-win for everyone,” she says.
Callum Davies, founder of Hell and equally passionate about plant-based alternatives, says the team was amazed by how delicious the cauliflower ice cream was when they tasted it.
“It sounds like it will be good for you but not tasty – yet we were blown away and knew we had to offer it to our customers. We’re always pushing the envelope in offering plant-based alternatives and think people will be just in love with it as we are. It’s a pretty sweet aftertaste knowing that it’s dairy-free and uses rescued cauliflower,” he says.
EatKinda wants to revolutionise the ice cream industry – changing how science and technology are used in the primary sector to create sustainable and animal-free sweet treats
